GS ride - just a little muddy :-)

Thanks Dani!! And thanks to knopkop the mudman and the drix the sweep! And to Pieter who encouraged us all to "do the gravel, it is good to learn" :-)
Briefing at the start of the canal roads




After a muddy encounter...

Regrouping just beofre the last stretch



The dam near Beestekraal

Marnus and Bruno



A little bit of mud did stick to man and machine.... :-)

Dani, thanks for leading & Knopkop, thanks for leading the winding part And thanks Drix for da sweeping - even waited for me while I was taking a skelm smoke break

Those canal roads are awesome - something of everything. I must say the stretch of loose crushed gravel rock had me dancing. The muddy part had me sliding. The winding track had me swooping. The puddles had me splashing. So it was a great work out!! I was tired even before we started (could it have been some left over hang over???), but somehow it just got better the further we went.

Hats off to the new members that joined us. It was really a great crash course in dirt road riding (no pun intended!). We had a nice buffet breakfast for lunch, so all ended well.

Looking forward to the next one.

But first I have to finish packing - off to a work session on a hunting farm somewhere between Vivo and Alldays - and I don't think I'll get around to wash the bike before I go

Thanks for the pictures Mario!

Looks great! I keep missing out on this ride! But then again I don't have to wait for the next club ride to do it... If anyone at any stage find themselves board enough, please post the track (a map please, as I don't use a GPS).

Thanks for sharing!

As always it was a great ride. It just had enough mud to keep you "literally" on your toes, without becoming overbearing. The loose asphalt pebble section was interesting and I must admit it was the first time I encountered this thick layer of it. What I enjoyed the most of the ride, was the smell of "Bosveld" hout being burned and the sandy twisties.

Really a ride to put on our regular calender. To Dani our ride leader, Marius the ride leader inspirator, Knopkop the conspirator and Drix the patient sweep(itor??) Thanks for a very nice and well organised ride.

Marnus, I love your description of the ride.

I am with Sias, seem to be missing this ride with the club, though I have ridden parts of the canal already with my TTR

This was such a good ride, man I love those canal roads so much I did them three times this week-end

Thanks to Dani for leading, and Drix for sweeping, and thanks to all the people that joined for the ride. Like Muddy said, there was mud, but not to much, there was "sand" in the form of loose gravel, but not to much, and then endless twisties tightly hugging the canal, where the rear end got a little loose in some of the corners...

It was a memorable club ride. The canals have a special place for me as the man who introduced me to those roads died four days after I rode those same canals with him.

Yes, it was a great ride!
The route in itself presented something of everything but over and above that, the positive attitude and the 'shared riding pleasure' atmosphere in the group of 20 GS’ers was very special.

As promised there were escape routes on 2 occasions:
* The first one was at the crushed stone section:
Everyone was warned about the ‘loose asphalt pebbles’- almost like riding in thick sand for a kilometre or two.
I mentioned that I did it on the recce ride the previous day, but I’m going to take the short cut (easy tar) and anyone who wants to do the same can follow me.
I could hear the minds of the men as if in an echo ‘if a woman can do it, I can do it’ …
needless to say I was the only one taking the short cut! Well done to all – it’s the only way to gain experience!

* The second escape route was available to avoid the 10 or so wet kilometres.
The ‘If a woman can do it, I can do it’-thing was again noticeable… Marius stayed with me and only 3 others joined us on the shortcut.
After a 30 minute wait Knopkop arrived and one after the other joined us in the shade of the Bushveld trees –
dirty bikes, dirty gear - some more mud-covered than others… but it was great to see the smiles and hear the stories!

Thanks for the pictures Mario and to Charl for sending these:

The first water crossing on the way to the canal roads:




Charl and his Adventure after breakfast (or was it lunch?) at Beestekraal Station:


Thanks to Etienne for his help – he also did the recce with Marius and I on Saturday and introduced the route to us; to Drix for sending me the GPS files and for his work as sweeper; to Marius for all his support and to each and everyone in the group who made the first GS-ride led by a lady (sometimes from the rear!) such a great success!
Thanks to all the new members who joined: Tinus, Handré, Stefan, Johan, Charl & Josene; I trust we will see you all again on the next ride!